


Midnight Fire

by DeckofDragons



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Allusions to mental illness, Apparently this ship is called French Toast, Can probably be viewed as platonic if someone wanted to see it that way, Fire, Fluff, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, I wanted it to be Spyro though, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 20:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16415348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Spy returns to base late at night to find Pyro in distress.





	Midnight Fire

**Author's Note:**

> When I got the idea for this I thought it'd be a short drabble type thing but it's not. That's pretty typical for me though.

It was past midnight when Spy returned to the base. He hated staying out that late – it reminded him of how old he was getting, he used to _easily_ be able to stay up until the ungodly hours of early morning and feel fine, now though his body ached and he just wanted to go bed – but it had to be done sometimes. This wasn’t the first time nor was it likely would it be the last, unfortunately.

He was so tired and ready for bed he almost missed the kitchen light being on – shameful but he was back at base, he was allowed to relax a little and he _did_ catch it. He pulled his knife out just in case danger was afoot, being careful that it didn’t make any noise as he flicked it open. It was probably just one of his teammates making a midnight snack, or either Medic or Engie were skipping sleep to work on something again, they needed to stop doing that. But it was better to be safe than sorry, doing so had saved his life more times in the past than he could count.

He snuck in, tiptoeing and being as quiet as was possible when opening and closing the doors – which was still quite noisy, this was a mercenary base after all, the doors were built to be secure, not quiet. There was the sound of glass bottles clinking together coming from the kitchen. Spy followed it and peeked in.

It was Pyro, still in his fireproof suit despite the time – not that that was surprising, no one had ever seen him with it off as far as Spy knew. He was moving frantically, placing bottles of liquor on the table. He wasn’t the type to drink though.

“Bonjour,” Spy said, as he stepped around the corner, deftly flicking his knife closed before sliding it back into his pocket.

Pyro let out a muffled yelp as he jumped around to face Spy. He only relaxed a tiny bit when he saw it was Spy though. He was still tense and almost shaking as he mumbled something too fast for Spy to decipher but it was clear from his tone that he was unhappy Spy had snuck up on him.

“What are you doing?” Spy asked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. Pyro started to reply, still speaking way to fast and frantically so Spy cut him off. “Slower, calmer.” It was clear Pyro was distressed so Spy kept his voice and posture relaxed, the last thing he wanted was for Pyro to lose his cool completely and set something on fire and almost burn the base down.

Pyro stopped, balling his hands into fists and breathing loudly through his gas mask. It was a good ten seconds or so before he spoke. “Fire,” he said as he pointed to the bottles of liquor he’d place on the table. “Engie hides the gasoline at night now.” He mumbled some more unintelligible stuff that was definitely not nice things about that move and possibly Engie too. “Alcohol burns good too though. I’m doing it outside, promise, away from Sniper’s van.” He gathered the bottles up in his arms and marched around the table towards the door.

Spy stepped in his way. “Demo’s going to be furious if you do that.” Not necessarily at Pyro but just in general.

“I don’t care,” was all his angry answering mumble could be translated as.

Spy could either let him go and hope he didn’t set a fire big enough to do any damage to anything or he could try to diffuse him but risk riling him up instead and probably making things worse. With how late it was, the former was tempting but that would be shrugging the problem onto somebody else.

“How about a small fire instead?” he said. “I have a fireplace in my quarters, remember?”

Pyro trembled hard enough to make the bottles rattle in his arms, he’d drop them if he wasn’t careful. He nodded though.

“Put the bottles down first, _don’t_ drop them, place them on the table.”

Pyro almost seemed to whimper before finally obeying. He stayed silent as he followed Spy to his rooms. Right away he ran over to the little brick fireplace Spy had had installed in there shortly after they’d moved into this base.

Spy watched patiently as Pyro frantically worked. There was only just enough material for a small fire, appropriate for the size of the fireplace, meaning it was perfectly safe to let Pyro do as he pleased. Pyro was the _reason_ Spy kept so little firewood on hand, he wasn’t in here often but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Despite its size though, Pyro was still immediately enraptured by it as soon as he had it going. The shaking tension drained from his posture as he sat directly in front of it. If it wasn’t for his fireproof suit it would’ve been dangerous.

With a sigh, Spy plopped down into his fireside chair and pulled out a cigarette. “Feel better?” He asked after lighting it. He needed to keep an eye on Pyro to make sure he didn’t burn the base down so he might as well try to figure out what had had Pyro riled up and _needing_ to set something on fire in the middle of the night.

Pyro’s answering mumble sounded like a positive, his nod confirmed it.

“What to tell me what upset you?”

More incomprehensible mumbling, happy sounding though. Pyro was too distracted by whatever he saw in the fire to answer, probably hadn’t even heard the question.

So Spy sighed and resigned himself to sitting here and watching the flames with Pyro until they were gone. It’s not like he could leave Pyro unattended with fire in the base, it had been a long time since he’d last almost burnt anything important down – that he wasn’t supposed to burn down – but it was better to be safe than sorry. And he had to make sure Pyro didn’t touch any of his things. _And_ he’d be able to see the light through the crack under the door leading to his proper bedchamber. So he had no choice but to stay and watch over Pyro.

Thankfully he not only had the foresight to keep very little firewood on hand but also fast burning firewood. Pyro made mumbled sounds of sadness as the flames died half an hour or so later, he made no move to renew them though. A good sign, probably.

“ _Now_ do you want to tell me what upset you?” Spy asked again.

Pyro titled his head back and mumbled something.

“Come again?” Talking to Pyro was a pain but as long as one was patient it could be done… eventually… sometimes.

Pyro let out an exaggerated sigh – if he was so annoyed by people not understanding him he should speak clearer the first time or not wear a mask that muffled his voice so much. “Nightmare,” he said.

“A ‘nightmare’?” Spy repeated to make sure he’d heard right.

Pyro nodded as he stood and turned to face Spy properly.

“What was it about?” As tired as Spy was his curiosity burned stronger. Pyro had always been an enigma, a chance to learn more about could never be turned down.

Pyro tensed up again though as he turned his head to the side. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like “Don’t remember,” as he wrung his hands together.

Spy opened his mouth to press for the truth but stopped himself, upsetting Pyro again wouldn’t be fair. “You have nightmares often?”

Pyro paused for a few seconds as if thinking hard about it before hesitantly nodding. “Can I sleep here tonight?” he asked, pointing to the floor at his feet. “Engie lets me sleep in his room sometimes,” he interrupted before Spy could answer, “so does Medic.”

Spy burnt out the butt of his cigarette and place it in the ashtray on the table. “Why don’t you go sleep in one of their rooms then?” he asked as he stood up too.

“I’m already here and…” Pyro trailed off into thoughtful mumbling. Spy wasn’t in the mood for it.

“Fine, if you must, you can sleep in here, but don’t touch anything or else I’ll…”

Pyro stepped forward and hugged him, squeezing him hard enough that his ribs hurt a little. Spy sighed and awkwardly accepted and returned the embrace. He’d learned a long time ago that the fastest way of getting through Pyro’s hugs was to just endure them, pushing him away made him upset which was more a pain to deal with than the hug. And by now Pyro had hugged him so many times he was used to it, ~~he maybe even liked it a little~~.

“Thank you,” Pyro said full of enthusiasm as he stepped back. “Nighty-night.” He gave Spy another firm squeeze before stepping back and again and… lowering himself to the floor and lying down.

“You are going to sleep on the floor?” Spy asked.

Pyro rolled onto his back to nod up at him. “I don’t mind.”

“No, couch.” Spy pointed to his couch. He was _not_ about to go to his big comfy bed while his teammate slept on the floor of his sitting room. “Be right back.”

He left and grabbed his spare blanket and pillow from his closest. He returned to find that Pyro had obeyed him and had moved to the couch. “You sleep in your suit?”

“Sometimes,” Pyro replied.

Spy wanted to know but… wouldn’t ask. It was none of his business. Instead he handed Pyro the pillow, letting him put it under his head before draping the blanket over him. It was probably unnecessary given the suit but it wouldn’t feel proper not to lend him one. It, the pillow, and the couch would need thorough cleaning later though, even if Pyro had three damn suits so he could always be in one even when the others were in the laundry they still didn’t get washed all that often.

“Hey uh… Spy,” Pyro interrupted before Spy could turn the lights off. “Can I uh… come to you when I have nightmares in the future? I like it here.”

It’s not like Spy could in good conscious turn him down. “Yes, you may.”

Pyro mumbled what could only be another thanks.

“Good night then,” Spy said as he turned off the lights on his way out. Despite how tired he was he felt good too. Seeing Pyro relaxed and happy again was much better than seeing him on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Ugh, he was getting too attached to Pyro and the rest of his teammates. That didn’t have to be bad though, did it? … No, probably not. Either way he was far too tired to deal with this right now. If Pyro wanted to come to him for comfort after nightmares in the future, he’d let him. Even if he wasn’t the best at offering comfort, all he could do was try, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a kudos and comment if you liked it please. :)


End file.
